Is More Technology Better for Communication in International Virtual Teams?

Abstract

With the advent of the collaboration tools based on ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the distances between the team members of a company spread around the world have shrunk, at least virtually. Using the most complete collaboration/communication technologies for project meetings, although beneficial at first glance, is not always the best choice when one considers the diverse cultural aspects of the team members of different nationalities. This article examines the adequacy of the communication tools for project communication in line with the cultural differences by comparing the views of American and Brazilian groups used to communicating through ICT on a daily basis for project related work. The results show significant differences between the perceptions and attitudes of the two groups regarding the adequacy of the communication tools in addressing usual project tasks.